Vaccum pump for bottles

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a hemi-cannula for tracheotomy patients, comprising a main tubular body ( 1.1 ) which is made from a suitable flexible material and which comprises peripheral end fixing flanges ( 1.2  and  1.3 ). One of said flanges ( 1.2 ), which is intended to be disposed inside the trachea next to the inner face of same, takes the form of a wing comprising a cylindrical surface with an oblique axis in relation to an axis perpendicular to the main axis of the main body ( 1.1 ). The other flange ( 1.3 ) takes the shape of a truncated cone comprising a larger outer base. According to the invention, a conduit forming the main tubular body passes through the centre of both of said flanges. The invention is suitable for producing tracheotomy cannulas.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a vacuum pump which has been especiallydesigned as a closing means for bottles, such as wine bottles forexample, which allows for maintaining optimum environmental conditionsinside the bottle once the primary opening thereof has been carried outand part of its content has been consumed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the preferred scope of practical application of the invention, thatof wine-containing bottles, the latter are marketed with a semi-hermeticclosure, specifically through a cork stopper, such that the latterallows the bottle to “breathe”, but without the wine coming into directcontact with the air.

Once the bottle is opened and if its entire content is not consumed, theair mass which completes the capacity of the bottle with the winedetermines a wine oxidation, with the resulting and rapid deteriorationthereof.

In attempting to avoid this drawback, different solutions are known,such as filling the empty space of the bottle with an inert gas orapplying a vacuum effect to said bottle minimizing the oxidation processin a very substantial manner, prolonging the useful life of the wine ina more than a sufficient extent so that the total consumption thereofoccurs.

In this last aspect, stoppers are known which are provided with aone-way valve, requiring the aid of an absorbent pump, a “bicycle-typepump”, which represents an uncomfortable, sizeable and scarcelyeffective solution.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The vacuum pump for bottles proposed by the invention, belonging to thelast group mentioned, i.e. to the group of mechanisms which allow forextracting most of the air contained in the bottle once the closurethereof is carried out, solves in a completely satisfactory manner thedrawbacks set forth above.

To that end and more specifically, the pump proposed is structured bymeans of the functional combination of three basic parts, a supportintended to be externally coupled to the neck of the bottle, a stopperwhich, traversing said support, is coupled inside the neck of the bottleestablishing a leak-tight closure with the latter and internallyincorporating a one-way valve, and a cap assembled on said support,which can be axially moved with regard thereto and which in turnconstitutes a second one-way valve, such that maintaining said supportstabilized with regard to the bottle with one of the hands of the user,when the cap is axially moved in the extraction direction, the one-wayvalve defined between the cap and support closes and the valve arrangedin the stopper opens, whereby the air from the bottle passes to thechamber comprised between the stopper and the cap, whereas in themovement of said cap in the opposite direction, the valve of the stopperis what closes and the valve arranged between the cap and the support iswhat opens, the air flowing out to the exterior, such that analternative and repetitive operation of the type mentioned causes anabsorbent pumping which little by little gives rise to the vacuum insidethe bottle. It is worth mentioning that the pumping caused by means ofthe movement of said cap is of a remarkable capacity, unlike known pumpswhich use the internal plunger model.

The one-way valve arranged in the internal stopper consists of twocylinders duly fixed in an axial opening of the stopper itself,substantially spaced from one another, leaving a small chamber in whicha sealing disk of slightly smaller diameter than that of said cylindersfunctions, such that the internal cylinder has an axial opening on whichthe sealing disk acts when the valve closes, whereas the externalcylinder, also provided with an axial opening, has peripheral grooves,in the direction of its generatrices, which, due to their own position,cannot be sealed by the intermediate disk.

For its part, the one-way valve connecting the support with the capconsists of an o-ring seal housed in a perimetral channel of the supportand on which the side wall of the cap acts, said channel being ofsubstantially greater radius of curvature than the radius of the o-ringseal, such that the latter is movable, dragged by the cap, in eitherdirection, specifically enhancing the closure when it moves in thedirection of closure of said valve, and being located in correspondencewith grooves or windows of the support which allow for the outflow ofthe air, i.e. the valve opening, in the movement of the cap in theopposite direction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description being made and for the purpose of helpingto better understand the features of the invention, according to apreferred practical embodiment example thereof, a set of drawings isattached as an integral part of said description, wherein the followinghas been shown in an illustrative and non-limiting manner.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a vacuum pump carried out accordingto the object of the present invention, duly coupled to the neck of awine bottle.

FIG. 2 shows a side elevational and diametrical section view of thevacuum pump of the previous figure, likewise coupled to the neck of abottle, which is represented in a dotted line.

FIG. 3 shows a side elevational view of a detail of the intermediatesupport, in which both air outlet grooves corresponding to the one-wayvalve and the guide grooves for the movable cap are observed.

FIG. 4 shows a cross section view of a detail of the internal stopper atthe level of its one-way valve.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In view of the described figures it can be observed how the vacuum pumpproposed by the invention is constituted of a support (1) of a suitablerigid material, such as plastic for example, provided with a perimetraland internal restriction (2) close to its upper and free end, intendedfor acting as a stop on the throat (3) of the bottle, as is especiallyobserved in FIG. 2, said support (1) being extended along the neck (4)of the bottle (5) and being finished off in a ring (6) of a recessedprofile, which facilitates its manual gripping.

The perimetral restriction (2) furthermore constitutes the seating areafor the expanded head (7) of a stopper (8), preferably of hard rubber,intended to penetrate inside the neck (4) of the bottle and to beintegrally and tightly fixed thereto, with the collaboration of annulartabs (9), oversized with regard to the neck (4) of the bottle and whichare deformed under pressure on the latter.

The stopper (8) incorporates an axial opening (10) with a stepping onwhich a small cylinder (11) rests, with an also small axial perforation(12) and with its external end (13) frusto-conically recessed,constituting the seating for a soft rubber disk (14), of slightlysmaller diameter than that of the cylinder (11) in this area and whichfunctions in a chamber (15) defined between the cylinder (11) and asecond cylinder (16), the latter provided with, in addition to anotheraxial opening (17), peripheral grooves (18) in correspondence with itsgeneratrices and equiangularly distributed, the purpose of which will bedescribed below.

The described structure is complemented with an also cylindrical cap(19), which can be moved on the support (1) in an axial and adjustablemanner, as is also observed in FIG. 2, and which is connected to thelatter close to its external end though an o-ring seal (20) housed in achannel (21) which will also be talked about below.

The cylinders (11) and (16) housed in the stopper (8) constitute aone-way valve insofar as when the cap (19) is axially moved outwards,the chamber (22) arranged between the bottom of said cap (19) and thehead (7) of the stopper (8) progressively grows and is subjected to anegative pressure by being maintained externally closed though the seal(20) whereby said negative pressure is transmitted to the inside of thebottle (5) through the openings (12) and (17) and the grooves (18), thesealing disk (14) moving upwards, specifically resting on the internalend of the cylinder (16), covering its opening (17) but leaving its sidegrooves (18) open due to their smaller diameter, such that this negativepressure in the chamber (22) generates a suction inside the bottle (5).

The movement of the cap (19) is guided and limited by a pair of internallugs (23), existing at the level of the mouth thereof, functioning inrespective grooves (24) of the support (1), provided with an orthogonalbending (25) at its internal end which allows for locking said cap inthe position shown in FIG. 1 by means of a slight rotation of the cap(19) with regard to the support (6).

When the cap begins the operation of axial movement in the oppositedirection, the negative pressure existing in the chamber (20) istransformed into pressure, to the extent that the sealing disk (14) ismoved upwards closing the opening (12) of the cylinder (11), and,accordingly, closing the internal valve to the stopper (8) while at thesame time in this downwards movement of the cap (19), the o-ring seal(20) moves in the same direction on the channel (21), reaching an areaof the support (1) in which the latter incorporates a series of grooves(26) establishing connection between the interior and exterior of theo-ring seal (20), and which, as a result, allow for the outward airdischarge through the space defined between the cap (19) and the support(1).

With the structure described and as has been pointed out previously, analternative movement of the cap (19) with regard to the support (1),maintaining the latter fixed though the handle (6), causes an absorbentand intermittent pumping effect of the air existing inside the bottle(5) towards the exterior, until achieving the suitable vacuum levelinside said bottle.

1. A vacuum pump for bottles which, being especially designed forextracting the air contained in a bottle of which a partial consumptionhas been carried out, such as a wine bottle for example, ischaracterized by being constituted by means of the functionalcombination of three pans, a cylindrical support (1) which can beexternally coupled to the neck (4) of the bottle, an internal stopper(8) which can be coupled to said support (1) though its head (7) and canalso be coupled to the interior of the neck (4) of the bottle, in afixed and tight manner, and an external cap (19), which can axially andalternatively move with regard to the intermediate support (1), havingbeen provided that a one-way valve is arranged between the cap (19) andsupport (1), and that the internal stopper has in turn another one-wayvalve, such that in the axial and outward movement of the cap (19), theexternal valve is maintained closed whereas the internal valve opens,allowing for the absorption of air from the interior of the bottle tothe chamber (22) created between the stopper (8) and the cap (19),whereas in the opposite movement of said cap (19), the valve of thestopper closes and the external valve is what opens, allowing for theoutflow of the air housed in said (22) towards the exterior.
 2. A vacuumpump for bottles according to claim 1, characterized in that the support(1) is materialized at its internal or lower end in a ring (6) acting asa handle for manually stabilizing said support with regard to the bottle(5) during the pumping operation, furthermore having an internalrestriction (2) close to its other end though which it rests on thethroat or mouth (3) of the bottle and though which it receives the head(7) of the internal stopper (8), which is of rigid plastic, just likesaid support, and has perimetral rings (9) oversized with regard to theneck of the bottle and which are deformed under pressure on the surfaceof said neck stabilizing and hermetically closing the coupling of thestopper thereto.
 3. A vacuum pump for bottles according to previousclaims, characterized in that the stopper (8) has an axial opening (10)provided with a perimetral stepping on which a small cylinder (11) isseated, provided with an axial opening (12) from which another similarcylinder (16) is considerably spaced, a chamber (15) being definedbetween them in which a soft-rubber sealing disk (14) of a slightlyundersized diameter with regard to that of the chamber (15) in which itis housed functions, the second cylinder (16) having peripheral grooves(18) in the direction of its generatrices, such that said sealing disk(14) doses the axial opening (12) of the lower cylinder (11) when it ispressed against the latter, but it maintains the openings or sidegrooves (18) of the upper cylinder (16) open when it is adapted to thebase of the latter.
 4. A vacuum pump for bottles according to previousclaims, characterized in that the support (1) has a perimetral channel(21) at its upper end and its external face, in which an o-ring seal(20) is housed, the radius of curvature of said channel (21) beingsubstantially greater than the radius of said seal (20) such that thelatter can be axially moved in either direction, when it is dragged bythe cap, in order to establish a closure on the upper area of saidperimetral channel or to face the grooves (26) of the support (1), whichestablish the connection between either side of the o-ring seal (20)when the latter is located at the lower or internal end of said channel(21).
 5. A pump or bottles according to previous claims, characterizedin that the support (1) incorporates a pair of longitudinal and oppositegrooves (24) in which respective lugs (23) associated to the capfunction, acting as guides conducting and limiting the movement of saidcap (19), it having been provided that said grooves (24) are providedwith a small orthogonal bending (25) at their lower or internal endallowing a slight rotation of the cap (19) for locking the latter in theposition of maximum retraction.